One of Three Things is True
by Awdures
Summary: Reality is in flux. Dimensions spill one into another. The war is lost though the resistance remains. Of the Chaos Emeralds nothing has been seen. Of the Master Emerald no one dares ask. With illusions everywhere perhaps the truth of what has happened is impossible to know. But something must be the truth. They are lost. Or hidden. Or taken. One of these things is true...
1. Truth?

_No one was sure what had happened to the Emeralds. Not the Chaos Emeralds, not the Master Emerald. Rumour had it they were lost entirely, or hidden safely away far out of reach, that they'd been used and failed, or that were the last thing keeping the resistance staggering on, or had been stolen and were the secret power source behind the enemy._

 _No one knew for certain._

 _Maybe none of the stories were true. Or all of them. Time was out of joint after all, dimensions blurred, reality no longer unquestionable._

 _Even those who thought they knew what had happened distrusted their senses, distrusted their recollections._

 _Illusions bred like fever dreams and the truth, even if there even could be said to be one single true reality any more, was lost to the red shifting mist._

 _Lost, or hidden, or taken._

 _Perhaps one of the stories is true..._


	2. Lost

**Lost**

The Island, floating no longer, settled into the shallow waters of the rocky archipelago, miles off shore of Mystic Jungle. Rock ground against rock and Knuckles reached out all his senses one last time, confirming what he thought he already knew. He was alone, hadn't been followed, either by the endless robots, nor the masked monster that led them, nor the Resistance's own surveillance.

Soon it wouldn't matter, but for a few more moments he still needed to protect that isolation.

He stood with his back to the Master Emerald, his back to the volcano's peak at the Island's centre, looking out across the unfamiliar horizon. To see other peaks and islands there was a shock to his eyes in spite of the fact he'd chosen this place, guided the way here.

He turned his back on the sight and his face back to the blue-green glow of the Master Emerald, closing his eyes against it, trying to settle his nerves to what he meant to do. It was hard, but he'd known it would be hard. Everything was hard now. They'd lost so much. Green Hill, the city, the Chaos Emeralds when they'd tried to use them to stem the tide of losses, and now Sonic.

Knuckles opened his eyes again. He'd believed through it all he could keep this place safe, but that had become nothing but a reckless hope they couldn't afford. Nowhere was safe.

Nothing.

No one.

And if they were to lose this, then it _must_ be truly lost, not lost to the hands of their enemies, but truly gone beyond reach. The thought of the Master Emerald's power coupled to that monster's own was enough to snap Knuckles out of his hesitation.

He took a slow breath and ran his hands through the air, feeling the shape of the energy around and inside him. The places it touched and joined. Island, Emerald, Guardian. Intertwined and binding links.

He faltered. So much power there. Surely, _surely_ it would be better to use it to fight back. Surely there was some way, something he could…

No.

That wasn't hope. Wasn't confidence. Was nothing but weakness. Fear. Reluctance to do what had to be done.

The risk was too great if he fought and failed. He had decided that already. Had known it for too long. Known the only reason Eggman and his monster hadn't come for the Master Emerald already was because of the man's obsession with Sonic first and foremost. That was no longer at issue and Knuckles was running out of time.

He took another deep breath, not caring that it shook, and struck out with his mind at those twisting, shining bonds. Slicing. Hacking at them. Ripping them away.

He had heard once that a feral animal caught in a trap would gnaw off its own leg to escape and that image snagged on his imagination because that's what it would be like, he was certain, that tearing away of a part of yourself. The pain and desperation all the worse because it was _you_ doing it, and you could stop except the alternative was worse so you couldn't and the pain and the injury and the shock might kill you anyway but if you stopped you were still trapped, still helpless and hunted.

Knuckles fell to his knees, panting but relentless because it wasn't just him who would be hunted down if the Master Emerald was taken, it was everyone he knew. Everyone. They'd truly lose and everything they'd already lost would be wasted.

He reeled, one hand flat on the ground and looked up dizzily. The Emerald flickered dimly, its colours murky dark swirls that made his stomach roil. It sent feverish chills through him to realise how little he could sense it despite it being right there before his eyes. It was almost over. He gathered his concentration, steadied his grip on the ragged thread of connection that remained and summoned the remaining power for the last use he would ever make of it.

He _pushed. Opened_.

A ragged circular hole in thin air popped into being, dancing with the lurid giddy colours of an unfamiliar Special Zone, the weird un-dimensional space where chaos perhaps sprang from in the first place. He didn't understand it or need to - it was enough to know it was the perfect hiding place. One even he could rarely reach and without the connection to guide him probably never would. The Master Emerald would be safe there. Lost forever, but safe.

He let the rift seal around it. The edges closed over the Emerald like a mouth. The connection blinked out and he collapsed at the base of the empty altar.

* * *

The rain woke him. A drenching tropical downpour that soaked his fur and ran from his spines to puddle between the cobbled stone slabs. Rain like being hit. Like blows against his already aching body. For long moments he couldn't move. Too stiff and sore to even consider it. How long had he been lying here? He'd curled up against the pain or the weather at some point - a tight, tense, aching huddle, knees pressed to elbows, muzzle tucked down between his arms where they were drawn tight into his chest. He was shivering and that hurt too. It also had little to do with the weather.

 _Get up,_ he told himself. _Move_. _On your feet and stop your snivelling. You're alive. You didn't survive that just to die of exposure out here._

 _Get. Up._

Knuckles drove himself to his feet and stood swaying. He wasn't entirely sure of his ability to navigate the steps just yet. He might be alive, almost against his own expectations, but he was also dizzy and weak and hadn't survived only to break his neck slipping on wet limestone either.

But he was cold. Colder that he ought to be at this latitude, even in a downpour. Colder than it could possibly be here. Cold to his bones. He needed shelter. Needed a fire, food and proper sleep before he could assess what he'd done. If this trembling helplessness was more than shock - if it lasted - he wouldn't go back. He may have secured the Master Emerald, kept them safe from that threat, but the Resistance needed leadership not a further liability, not someone who needed protecting rather than the other way round.

The sun was low on the horizon - if he didn't get down from here in daylight he'd have even less chance of managing it without injury come dark. He pushed all else to one side except concentration on not falling and staggered toward the steps that formed the side of the temple pyramid.

He was halfway down before another bout of giddiness coincided with a badly worn step, flowing with water, and his feet went from under him. Adrenaline coursed through him, abruptly extinguished by the crack of the back of his head against stone and the relief even through the pain, that he at least wasn't tumbling forwards. He sat up and stayed sitting, head in his hands, waiting for his vision to clear. He descended the rest of the way backwards on all fours, and full night had come with equatorial suddenness by the time he again stood at the bottom.

He walked through the darkness towards the nearest shelter and cache of supplies. The Island felt different, the route less familiar than it should have been although he found it without difficulty. This particular refuge was a hut at the edge of the Island's own jungle lands and well built against this kind of weather. Rain drummed on the broad-leafed thatch but none ran in, even through the carefully constructed and sheltered smoke hole.

Slowly - way too slowly - Knuckles built a fire in the central hearth, rubbed his fur as dry as he could with one blanket then wrapped himself in another. It took all the effort he could muster to retrieve dried fruit from the supplies and make himself eat, and then to bank the fire so it would last. He had no energy left even to move to the bed from the fireside and simply slumped onto his side where he was.

He woke once in the night, perhaps at the change in the sound when the rain stopped, but only stayed awake long enough to note that the fire still glowed before sleep took him again.

Muggy heat and light on his face woke him next and he struggled free of the blankets. The rain had long stopped and the morning sun on wet ground and leaves had turned the air so humid that even the dry blanket he'd slept in bore droplets of moisture.

It was better than the penetrating cold, which mercifully seemed to have abated. Knuckles sat up slowly, paying attention to how he felt now. His head thumped, pain radiating out from where he'd hit it, and bruises from the same fall also made themselves known. Beyond that was a duller ache, a shiveriness that felt a bit like recovering from illness. It was unpleasant but not incapacitating as it had been the night before. Perhaps it was something, like excessive altitude, that it was possible to acclimatise to.

He stirred the fire to make tea. He needed to get back if he was going back. The others would be dreadfully worried by now and they were raw enough from the loss of Sonic, it wasn't fair to make them wonder if he too was dead. He abandoned his tea, half drunk and picked up supplies to breakfast on the move.

The commandeered flyer that had brought him here waited at the edge of the Island. He'd been reluctant to bring it nearer. It was an intrusion here, he'd wanted it no closer to the temple than this.

It didn't matter any more. The numerous empty temples, long since left to crumble, had one more among their number. Empty, meaningless and abandoned.

It wasn't hard to leave. This place no longer had the pull of home and the fact it still _looked_ familiar only made that feeling worse. He had the uneasy sense, even under blue sky sunlight, of viewing the place through a mist. Grey and dull and chilly.

He started up the flyer and headed to the mainland.

* * *

That he really should have re- initiated comms before getting closer to the base he only realised when he was intercepted by Silver. The flyer shuddered to a stop in mid-air, caught in a web of cyan energy. Knuckles fumbled for the headset he'd discarded on the co-pilot's seat.

"Silver. It's me, Knuckles, in the flyer you're holding."

The craft resumed its course so abruptly that Knuckles grabbed at the controls, swerving and dipping. There'd been a total breakdown of radio discipline at the sound of his voice which was enough to tell him that he had indeed been feared dead or caught.

The babble was distracting and he pulled the headset down to dangle round his neck as he steered the flyer into the concealed hangar and landed. He stumbled leaving the flyer and Silver caught his arm before Knuckles realised he was there.

"Are you all right? Where have you been?"

Knuckles shook his head. "Tired. I'll explain later."

He hadn't decide how, or even _if_ he was going to do that, but he certainly wasn't going to attempt it more than once and other people were already approaching, Charmy streaking ahead of Vector and Espio to squeal loudly enough to hurt.

"You're okay!"

Vector had winced along with Knuckles. "Yeah, apart from being deaf now." He grabbed Charmy by the stinger and hauled him back. "Pipe down."

"What happened?" Espio asked, his quiet tone nevertheless cutting through Charmy's protests.

"Later," Knuckles repeated, still moving towards the connecting doors between the hangar and the outer edge of the base.

"You're bleeding," Silver said suddenly, from behind him, before he'd reached them.

Knuckles put a hand to the back of his head. He hadn't realised it had bled, he'd fallen asleep so quickly and had had other things on his mind since waking. But it couldn't _still_ be bleeding, surely, even though it still throbbed.

His glove came away grubby, sticky with red-brown half-dried blood. It was too fresh to be from yesterday but it was only oozing, not really bleeding.

"I fell."

Vector looked him up and down. "How many times, man?"

Knuckles' shoulders slumped and he glanced down at himself. His gloves and knees were grubby from the crawl down the steps, his boots mud-caked and his fur had dried in matted clumps, but it was clearly something more than that Vector had noticed. Something of the aching bone-deep weariness that he'd thought he'd hidden away.

"Where're Tails and Amy?" he asked instead of answering.

Vector shrugged but didn't press. "Tails is out somewhere. Again. We couldn't stop him." His voice was miserable. Helpless.

Knuckles flinched. He'd done a poor job of connecting with Tails after losing Sonic. Had failed to find any worthwhile means of comforting him, failed to keep him safely alongside them. He had to change that somehow.

Vector had already continued talking.

"Amy's running comms for Eagle squad. They went off to one of the old Eggman bases in the city to see if there was still a computer hookup there - they were supposed to find out if there was a record of you getting grabbed on the system."

Knuckles was suddenly instantly alert again, weariness vanishing in alarm. This was the first effect of his attempt to make them safer? To run other people into danger?

"Tell her to pull them out!"

"Done," Vector said. "But it takes time." He patted Knuckles' shoulder heavily. "Honestly, you probably dodged a bullet having Amy busy there - going incommunicado then turning back up without a word? She was ready to rip you in half."

 _I think I might have done that myself_ , Knuckles thought grimly but didn't comment.

"Come on," Silver said. "Let's go down to medical and get you mopped up."

"Yeah," Charmy put in. "Amy probably won't yell at you so much if you've got a bandage round your head."

"Great. Thanks for that, Charmy. That fills me with confidence."

It was a relief to roll his eyes at the chattering bee. To listen to Vector and Espio bicker with him. To watch Silver shake his head in amusement at all three. They were real. Alive and noisy and _there_ , cutting through the grey, foggy sense of unreality that had twisted itself around him.

They surrounded him as they proceeded down the corridor, Silver and Vector on either side of him, Espio leading the way, Charmy above and at his back. Knuckles wondered if they realised how automatically they'd dropped into those positions – point, flankers, top cover – as though this was another battlefield rather than their own base. Then he wondered what they had seen or guessed to make them assume, even subconsciously, that he needed a protective escort.

He tried to dispel the notion when they reached the medical centre by insisting on dealing with the bloody lump on his head himself. It wasn't as though it was complex, but it was slower that way and they were interrupted, before he was finished, by Amy.

Contrary to Charmy's prediction, injury proved little deterrent to her fury and he jumped to his feet automatically as she stamped over to glare at him, looking inches away from actually hitting him. Her eyes went from the antiseptic wipe he had been using to clean the cut, to the wound itself without her expression softening.

"I'd give you another lump to match that one if we didn't damn well need you! What were you thinking to go off with no comms?" Her scowl deepened. "And let someone else do that, you stupid, stubborn idiot."

Knuckles considered it, decided that some gesture of compliance was probably owed, and relinquished the first aid kit to Espio who took it and continued where Knuckles had left off, without comment.

"Well?" Amy demanded. "Where were you? What happened to you?"

Knuckles hesitated. If he was going to tell _anyone,_ then everyone that needed to know was here.

In the absence of Sonic, and with Tails… not coping… this was the core of their resistance, was everyone he trusted in the world. And it hadn't been enough. Not to enough to make him warn them. Not enough to make him tell them what he'd intended.

It was Sonic, not him, who'd make unabashed declarations about the 'bonds of friendship' and Knuckles who'd scoff and tell him he was flattering himself. But now, having wilfully ripped apart every other bond that had marked out his life, Knuckles discovered that the hedgehog had been right. He needed his friends. It was too late to tell Sonic so, but he'd been right, and it wasn't too late to act on it.

Knuckles looked from face to face.

"I went to Angel Island."

It was a whisper, but everybody heard it and everybody froze.

Amy closed her eyes. "Oh no."

Charmy landed with a thump, oversetting a chair. Espio reached down to steady him as Vector spoke, his voice low and horrified.

"Are you saying they took the Master Emerald?"

Knuckles looked at them all, appalled at the alarm he'd caused, but it was natural wasn't it? It was only what he'd feared himself after all.

He shook his head quickly. "No. No, it's not that. I…" His voice shook but he clenched his fists and went on. "I made sure that wouldn't happen. I… It…" Knuckles drew a gasping, furious breath, forcing himself to pull himself together. If he couldn't even say it, how was he ever going to live with it?

"It's gone," he managed. "I…" Where were the words for what he'd done? "I… sent… it away. It's gone. Nobody will be able to… I can't…"

He let himself trail off. It hurt to even think about the details. He'd done as much as he could.

The split second's silence was broken by Amy.

"Oh, Knuckles..."

He couldn't tell if the dismay in her voice was sympathy or because she thought he'd made a terrible mistake. Wasn't sure he wanted to know. He stared from face to face, not sure what exactly he was looking for.

Silver was the first to voice whatever doubts the rest of them must have had.

"Are you sure that was-"

He was cut off simultaneously by Amy shaking her head and both Vector and Espio speaking at once.

"Knuckles is the Guardian," For once Espio's voice was louder.

 _Still?_ Knuckles wondered, _am I?_ But he let the chameleon go on. Vector had also fallen quiet to let him speak.

"If he says this is the best option, then that's where we are and there's no arguing the toss to be done," Espio finished.

Vector nodded once and Charmy repeatedly.

Amy stepped past them and picked up the chair Charmy had tipped over.

"Sit down, Knuckles," she said. "Before you keel over. "

Knuckles glanced at her, got a tiny smile back and obeyed. He saw Espio look past him at Silver, raising his eyebrows. Silver shrugged, apparently willing to go with the majority opinion, or at least keep any doubts to himself.

"All right," the white hedgehog said said, mildly enough. "So what next, commander?"

Espio eyed him, but to Knuckles' ears there was no audible insincerity in the title.

"Yeah," Vector added. "Now what, boss?"

Knuckles looked from face to face. Could he accept their offered trust? Still?

He took a slow breath. Thought about they way they were grouped around him, the way they'd flanked him down the corridor, Espio's hand on Charmy's shoulder when he'd fallen a moment ago, Silver's on his own when he'd stumbled leaving the shuttle. Amy's outrage at his absence, Vector's dismay at Tails running off alone.

Bonds as sure as chaos called to chaos.

There was a dreadful wounding tear in his spirit where the Master Emerald ought to be, but there was a worse one in this group where Sonic ought to be, and one they had to fix where Tails ought to be.

"Now?" he said aloud, his decision made. "Now we carry on. We're not losing anything else. We're not losing _anyone_ else. We're going to go out and bring Tails back and we're going to go out and find anyone else who's willing to fight. For their home. For their friends."

He looked from face to face again and saw nothing but fierce agreement.

"We're taking it all back."


	3. Untruth?

_Maybe it happened like that somewhere. Certainly a message to that effect went out on some levels of reality, a call to arms for all those willing to fight to take back their world. Perhaps that's how it arose, out of chaos and loss._

 _It would be nice to think so, from here in the depth of this red and stinging unreality, that strength could arise out of despair and weakness and rise so hard and fast to conquer again. That friendship could trump sheer, raw power and stand against it._

 _Perhaps it could._

 _Or perhaps among other times and worlds that tumbled and crashed together only the strongest of the resistance survived, only those who'd foreseen the worst and turned defence itself into a strength._


	4. Hidden

**Hidden**

The noise and movement as the resistance teams hauled their gear under cover, almost succeeded in making this place less eerie.

Knuckles looked around. _Almost. Only almost._

The hard white flares they were using for lighting, until they got power set up, cast long, pitchy-black shadows from the abandoned and overgrown contraptions that towered over their heads. Rails and loops which had once been brightly coloured swept into the air, over-topping the tangled shallow canopy of new-growth trees. The moonlight gleamed on the water of a broad, shallow inland sea at the base of a cliff to the west, highlighting the remains of a balcony and cliff-railway descender.

This had been an amusement zone once and it wasn't the war that had destroyed it. It wasn't even really destroyed as such – abandoned and slowly being reclaimed by vegetation and decay, but still substantially standing. More of the structures were sound than otherwise although paint was flaking, corrosion marked every metal surface and the plant-life was everywhere. In places even fabrics had survived, rotting banners flapping wetly in the damp night breeze.

Knuckles didn't know why the place had been abandoned, only that it was relatively recent. Not more than half a dozen years at most. Sonic spoke - _had_ spoken – fondly of it.

Knuckles struggled to tell one amusement zone from another – perhaps this one had just been superseded by the next fad – like the monstrosity Eggman was having built in Luminous Forest. There were people who would pay for distraction from this conflict it seemed, even it it was Eggman himself they were paying.

Knuckles turned his attention back to the unloading. Overhead, Charmy and Rouge had one end each of a sling-load of food supplies. Silver was also aloft, floating crates of wispons from the transport. On the ground, Vector and Espio were conferring over where to put them.

Knuckles headed for them, glass from long-since broken bulbs crunching underfoot as he moved over the cracked pavement and ankle-high weeds. The decision was made before he reached them and Silver and his airborne cargo drifted towards what would hopefully form the core of their new base.

Knuckles detoured to lift down a generator from the loader, as the two dogs who'd been struggling with it nodded thanks. He turned back in the same direction as Silver. The place they'd secured as their latest base of operations – after being discovered and uprooted yet again – had been a power distribution hub for the zone. It had all the infrastructure for power, communications, monitoring that had kept the place running. Tails had surveyed it in one of his more composed moments and declared it basically serviceable if they could restore power.

Knuckles looked around for the fox. He found him accompanied by a watchful Amy Rose, her arm on his shoulder. She greeted Knuckles with relief as he approached.

"This place is giving me an almighty case of the creeps, Knuckles."

"Good," said Knuckles. "Maybe it will put off any visitors who might be tempted to sell our location for the reward."

Amy made a face. "Yeah and that really helps my state of mind, so thanks for that." She looked around. "I suppose I thought 'abandoned' meant more of it had fallen in. This half-gone half-standing is...weird."

"We came here," Tails put in abruptly. "Me and Sonic."

Amy squeezed his shoulder and her voice softened. "It must have been fun here. Once."

Knuckles pointed the way to the building they'd earmarked. "Come on. Let's get one of these generators hooked up and see what still runs."

Before they could obey a crash and a yell of pain span them all back around towards the unloaders. The glare of the burning flares and the deepness of the shadows in contrast made it impossible to see what had happened at this distance. They ran back.

The generator had slipped again and one of the dogs was caught beneath, not longer yelling but face screwed up in pain. Knuckles lifted it again and Espio dropped to the dog's side.

"Get out of the light," he said firmly as people crowded round. Everyone obeyed but it didn't make enough difference.

"Get right out of the way," Vector said. "Find out which crate the torches were in."

"I can't see enough," Espio said. He addressed himself to the dog again. "I can't tell if that left leg is broken."

Knuckles hesitated a moment then closed his eyes and _reached._ When he opened them a Chaos Emerald lay in his palm. The green one. Less than optimal for what he had in mind but it would do. He concentrated again, not on the Emerald in his hand, not entirely, but on the Master Emerald. The height and distance of the Island was no obstacle to the contact as he drew on that unshakeable connection, channelling, willing. The Emerald in his hand glowed and kept glowing, brighter and brighter, spilling green light on the startled faces around him. He tossed it lightly in the air towards Espio. It drifted above him, suspended.

Espio glanced up, then back at the now clearly illuminated dog and his injury.

"All right," he said after a moment. "I don't think it's broken. You were lucky. We even have rings in one of these crates."

Silver, who'd returned at the sound of the shouting floating upwards over their heads and pointed at one of the still packed crates, lifting up and over to them. The dog reached for the rings inside with relief.

After a moment he got cautiously back to his feet. Espio watched him for a moment.

"I'm okay. Just a bit sore now."

The chameleon nodded. "All right. Be careful."

The dog looked embarrassed. "Yeah." He glanced sheepishly at Knuckles who waved it off.

"We've got all night," Knuckles told him. "Take it steady."

Another embarrassed nod and the dog moved away.

"Okay, show's over." Knuckles raised his voice. "We've got all night but _only_ tonight,. We need to be undercover by dawn."

Everyone hurried back to their tasks but Amy and Tails stayed at his side. Amy was looking at the Chaos Emerald.

"You think it's a good idea to throw those around?" she asked. She didn't add that they hadn't known Knuckles was in possession of any Emeralds, but the fact lingered in the air between them anyway.

Knuckles looked up at the Emerald, stilled for a moment, then closed one hand. The Emerald blinked out, not merely dark, but gone.

People glanced up but continued to work by the flare-light. Amy's eyes bored into him.

"So this is what you've been doing all the times you haven't been here? Back on Angel Island learning magic tricks with Chaos Emeralds?"

Knuckles met her eyes levelly. "Don't you think we _need_ a few tricks?"

He'd make no apology for dividing his time between the Island and the Resistance. They couldn't afford to lose either and he'd entrust the defence of the Master Emerald to no one else.

And there was more to it. The enemy had _something_ , something that had enabled them to take out Sonic in mere minutes, something that had enabled them to ride roughshod over every opposition, over every militia and army that had gone up against them – even those who'd had years of experience in dealing with Eggman's periodic attacks and wild robot-driven schemes.

Knuckles couldn't be sure if it was something the masked creature that had attacked Sonic _possessed_ or something he _was,_ but there was power there that Eggman hadn't had before.

Whether the Chaos Emeralds, even brought together under the control of the Master, were enough to go up against it Knuckles couldn't guess, but Sonic had been looking for them before he'd been – Knuckles flinched from the word 'killed', mentally went with 'defeated'. Sonic had been looking for them and so Knuckles had finished the job of gathering them.

And then baulked.

He may as well admit it to himself if no one else. He'd gathered them, then… stopped. Hadn't taken them into battle. Had fallen into doubt. If even that was not enough and they were taken, lost… If the _Master_ Emerald was lost…

His other worry sprang from the fact that Sonic had been their most adept user of the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles himself had only ever managed to bludgeon them into use, over-ruling their nature through the Master and turning their energies his way. It was inefficient and exhausting. Easier to use the Master Emerald directly. Easier – although in its own way, more dangerous.

Tails had managed to use the Chaos Emeralds on occasion and so had Silver. Knuckles suspected that Amy and one or two of their newer hedgehog recruits could be taught it – but circumstance would offer them no trial runs, no training period. Shadow could perhaps have turned things with them but, by all accounts, he'd gone over to the other side.

And so Knuckles had kept them. Replaced them in their former location circling the Master Emerald. Experimented alone. Tested the limits of what he could do with them. Of what the Master Emerald could do with them. Through them. Through him.

Some of what he learned he'd known of in principle from the old writings on the Island. Some, the Master Emerald had… Not _shown_ exactly… _Led_ him towards? Guided? Imparted?

He knew there was a system – none of the parts acted in isolation. Everything was linked and the way the power flowed through those links made all the difference. Having the Emeralds on the Island made all the difference. Proximity mattered. The difference between a hundred miles and a thousand was infinitesimal – the difference between arms-length and hands-on was astronomical.

Amy was still watching him, and hadn't answered. Tails watched both of them. The worry on their faces was clear. It was time to tell them what he'd been trying to do.

"I'll explain," he said, instead of waiting further for a response. "But we need to make this place secure first."

Amy watched him a moment longer. Then she nodded. "All right," she said. "But soon."

Before any of them could return to that task the devices which all three wore on their wrists beeped loudly.

"Proximity warning," Amy said, looking back from the device to Knuckles.

Setting the sensors was the first thing they'd done before even beginning uploading. They were short range, no better than a ten minute warning, maybe as little as five depending what had been sent against them. Maybe much less if the threat was that masked creature.

"Lights!" Knuckles yelled. Then remembered himself and broadcast it over the comm as well. "Unpack the wispons, get armed." He hesitated, releasing the broadcast button. "Where..."

Amy pointed, not needing the question finished. "I know which crates went where. I can sort that."

Knuckles nodded and left her to it.

"Silver, to me," Knuckles returned to the comms, looking around for him in the rapidly darkening clearing, as people threw shovel-loads of dirt over the burning flares to extinguish them. There was still a chance it wasn't an attack. Still a chance they could go unnoticed in the dark. It wouldn't fool a robot's infrared but if it was a passer-by… Knuckles almost snorted at this piece of wishful thinking. As if anyone would be out for a stroll in their eerie spot in the dead of night.

It was an attack, they'd have to light more flares to see to fight it, but for now… Maybe a moment extra of hope was no bad thing.

Silver touched down out of the gloom overhead and Knuckles beckoned him over.

"We're going to find out what it it."

Silver nodded.

Knuckles looked round once more. At the state of ordered haste. There was no panic, only urgency. Good.

Only Tails stood motionless in the midst of it. Knuckles put his hand on his shoulder and the fox jumped.

"Get inside," Knuckles said.

For a moment there was a flash of something in Tails' expression that was almost his old self who'd have protested at being sent from the front-line, would have insisted he stay and fight, would have been right in the middle of it making suggestions and assessing their plans. Then it faded. Whatever had taken Sonic from them had taken something more than his friend from Tails. He nodded listlessly and started walking that way.

"Tails," Knuckles called after him on impulse. "See if you can get that generator up to run the surveillance gear, we might need information on safe fallback locations."

For a moment he thought Tails would ignore him, but the fox looked back. His nod was still half-hearted but at least it came. Knuckles sighed.

"Okay, Silver. Let's go."

Silver took off and a moment later Knuckles felt himself lifted as well and they accelerated over the treetops to where the forest came to an end at the northern edge of the inland sea that bordered it. The sensation made him queasy not matter how often they did it. He was used to being in the air, and his body instinctively tried to position itself for gliding. He could feel the air around him, but the way he moved through it was not the natural motion of gliding/ The sensations didn't match with his movement and it was unsettling and uncomfortable. He strained his eyes to look ahead of them, trying not to think about it. If there were robots, especially in any sizeable force, they'd see them soon.

The moon came out from behind the scrappy clouds a moment later and glittered on metal below them. Silver drew in his breath and Knuckles gritted his teeth.

He squirmed in the air and triggered the comm.

"Enemy position report. Five Death Egg Sentinels from the north-northwest. Coming round the top end of the coast. Just entering the treeline. I can see maybe two dozen of the Egg Robos behind them, but there's probably at least that that many already in the trees."

As if his words had caused it, one of the Sentinels, wading into the trees, and crushing them underfoot, swung its huge head in their direction and fired. Silver rolled them both aside in the air and Knuckles closed his eyes against nausea, still trying to get his report out.

"They, uh, they know we're here." He swallowed hard and went on. "Must know you're there too because they're on a direct track." Knuckles glanced up woozily at Silver above him. "We've got to try and stop at least some of them. Let me go."

Silver gave the array of robots before them an appraising glance.

"You sure? What's the plan?" Silver dived aside from another blast, still towing Knuckles with him.

"Gah! Just stop them shooting at me for as long as you can." Knuckles keyed the comm. "Amy. We're going to try and hold them up here. Send me, uh, send me half of however many people you've got already armed. They're going to meet Egg Robos on the way. They're to take out as many as they can without losses then fall back. Then we hit however many are left with everything we've got."

Amy acknowledged this and Knuckles heard her relay it, choosing units, sending them out.

"Okay, Silver. Now."

Silver let go and the blue energy flickering around Knuckles vanished. He few a few feet before catching himself in the air. Not enough to glide, just redirecting his course towards the nearest Sentinel. Its weapon glowed but was spun aside by Silver as it fired. Another Sentinel turned on him but was rocked almost to tipping point as Silver lashed out and that shot too went wild.

Knuckles dived at the first robot that had fired, aiming for the head, at what would have been an eye if the thing was alive, and was instead its laser weapon. He smashed into it, almost knocking the breath out of himself and clawed wildly at the tearing metal for purchase. Finding none he kicked out and landed on the thing's arm. He leapt and struck downward, striking out the outboard portion and sending the huge spikes to the ground.

The Egg Robos below scattered from the debris and opened fire. Silver snatched some of them up into the air to drop and smash against the ground. The rest of them divided their aim between Silver and Knuckles. Their shots ricocheted off the damaged Sentinel as Knuckles flung himself flat on the remain of the arm. Friendly fire was apparently no risk to these things but he could use that. He leapt up in a gap in the firing and tore off a panel which had peeled away when he'd struck the head. He flung it to the ground and leapt after it. He swerved his way down through the air and grabbed it, raised it in front of him and charged at the nearest Egg Robos, taking out a round dozen before something hit his makeshift shield hard enough to throw him onto his back

Once again fighting for breath he lay there a moment before the silhouette of the damaged Sentinel blotted out the moon. He tried to move and couldn't, his eyes went to the second, spiked arm, waiting for it to blast towards him. Instead it moved in jerky stop-start twitches. He'd damaged something in the control systems when he'd hit the head then? It wasn't enough though, and the thing raised one enormous foot, meaning to crush him where he lay and he still couldn't even draw a full breath, let alone move.

He reached for the Master Emerald, knowing he'd almost certainly left it too late, but before he could even calm his mind to try, the darkness was split by an electric-blue blast as Silver cannoned into the Sentinel, toppling it backwards, one foot still in the air. Silver spun in the air above, gestured at it wildly and swung its fall into the feet of the one behind it. Both went crashing to the ground, the undamaged laser of the second one cutting into the air where Silver had been a moment ago. Swinging wildly back and forth, the laser sliced through the sky and the thing's jet pack fired, setting the nearest vegetation alight but still not enough to get it back to its feet.

That was two, and the moment's respite let Knuckles scramble back to his feet. Silver touched down beside him and staggered, breathing heavily.

"I can't do this forever," he warned.

"I know." Knuckles looked around, assessing what they'd achieved and what was still to do. The remaining three Sentinels were ignoring them, pressing ahead, though they seemed to have taken an idea from the downed one and were sweeping the undergrowth with their laser eyes, setting the forest floor, and trees alight. About twenty of the Egg Robos that had been at their heels had stopped following and now stood in line abreast, facing Knuckles and Silver. Not yet firing but their defensive role clear.

The comms squalled static then cleared to Vector's voice.

"We've engaged Egg Robos but can only see three Death Egg robots. Can't get near 'em. Too many of the little 'uns."

Knuckles looked at the line of Egg Robos which now formed a rear guard of sorts to the remaining Sentinels. Between the Egg Robos and the flames they were going to have the same problem.

"Fall back," he ordered. "Slowly. Join up with the others. Buy me some time."

He eyed the row of Egg Robos. Half had their weapons levelled at him and Silver, half angled up in the air. They intended to put up a barrage of covering fire the moment he and Silver approached the Sentinels.

"We won't get through that," Silver predicted. "That's going to be a _wall_ of laser-fire once they start shooting."

Knuckles didn't spare the line of robots a second glance. "We're not going to try. Can you get me back to the base?"

"Yes."

Knuckles glanced at the white hedgehog, trying to assess how weary he actually was under that automatic, determined answer.

"We'll have to go around this lot," he warned. "It'll be longer."

"I'm okay." Silver said. "Just tell me you've got a plan."

Knuckles tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it wasn't his forte and he knew it came out more of a snarl.

"I've got a plan."

Silver _did_ grin and then cyan light engulfed them both again as they flew into the air.

They skirted the battle as it got closer and closer to the base. Line of Resistance fighters stood between the robots and the building, arrayed across the clearing. Flare-light and wisp energy and laser-fire turning the light and shadows an eyeball-searing variety of colours. Knuckles squinted into the confusion. They were holding for now.

He cast around for the location he wanted.

"Go left."

"Huh?" Silver sounded dazed, close to spent.

"Left," Knuckles repeated. "Then when I say, let go."

"Yeah." Silver swerved in the direction indicated, too tired to ask questions.

"Amy," Knuckles sent. "Retreat. Get everyone inside."

"We can't just hide!" Her voice came back at one, strained, and half drowned by the noise of the battle.

"Don't argue, there's not time. I want one team on the entrance. Do it."

A moment's hesitation. Long enough for Knuckles to wonder if his failure to tell them sooner what he'd been doing on the Island would cost him his authority now. Then the moment passed and he heard Amy organising the practical implementation of his order. Saw the lines shift and start to fall back.

"Now, Silver."

Silver at least didn't argue and Knuckles fell free and into a glide. He glanced down. Had any of the robots seen him? He hoped to go unnoticed, or failing that to be dismissed as no longer a priory threat, less important than ending the battle. He hoped for _time_.

He landed atop one of the remaining structures, the tallest of three loops strung together in a wild rollercoaster route through the gambling platforms that had once operated. None of the attackers had turned towards him. The Resistance troops were funnelling past Amy's chosen team of last resort. He saw Silver land and join them. Saw the Chaotix, Rouge, and Amy herself take up positions flanking the entrance to the bunker-style powerstation, preparing to hold that last entrance if what he was about to try didn't work.

He closed his eyes and saw more. Saw the glittering line of energy that linked him always back to the Island, back to the shrine, back to the Master Emerald. A _braid_ of energy now not a single thread, the Chaos Emeralds, plaited into the connection, arrayed around the Master Emerald. The bonds between them, the power flowing to and from and through, lapping against the boundaries of the Master Emerald's control. He saw it almost clearly enough to believe that if he opened his eyes he would _still_ see it.

He could redirect that energy as easily as drawing channels in shingle with his fingers to redirect the tiny trickling streams that ran to the lake, up there on the Island, up there in the cloudless sunshine. As easy as redirecting the air over his spines in a glide.

He was Guardian and though the Master Emerald was distant and safe, his friends were nearby and in desperate danger.

He opened his eyes and for a moment he _did_ think he saw chaos energy flickering there between them as they stood facing off against the oncoming forces.

Chaos was power enriched by the heart. He'd read that. Heard it. But never known it before. Not really.

One of the Death Egg Sentinels had noticed him at last and turned towards his position, swiping aside two of the three loops with those massive, spiked arms. Someone had managed to take out the laser eye though, so he ignored it a moment longer. The other two still advanced on the tiny party guarding the door.

His friends had bought him the time he needed and he _reached_ as he'd reached earlier, as he'd reached, rarely, for the strength and succour of the Master Emerald. Reached not for his usual cautious, measured trickle of power but throwing open sluices and letting the power flood into him in a wave.

His breath caught in his throat and for a moment he was losing himself because swimming on a wild, rising wave you either got atop the crest of it to ride it or you got sucked under to drown and for long seconds he was certain he'd failed in his control and it would be the latter. It would rip him apart. He'd die, and his friends would die and the world would go under the heel of these machines and their master forever.

He'd completely underestimated both the extra power and the turbulent effect of the Chaos Emeralds and he was drowning, tossed helpless in the wave, pounded by battering surf, completely out of control.

Control.

The word snagged his attention and fought for the crest of the wave, for control of the torrent, forced his rolling eyes open, forced himself to see the real world around him. His friends, their backs against the wall but no longer fighting he realised because every robot's attention and aim was on him now.

He stood as though in a spotlight, the rail and platforms around him as bright as daylight, the shadows of the robots long on the ground as they all opened fire at once and there was no time to do anything about it, no time to do more than close his eyes and throw up his hands.

Neither the expected pain or oblivion came and Knuckles opened his eyes a second time. His blood pounded in his ears like crashing waves and Chaos Energy surged in his blood like the tide. He stared into the crackling light of laser-fire, rendered as harmless as distant fireworks by the leaping dancing aura of power around him.

He was breathing in huge slow gasps, hanging on to control by the slimmest of margins but he _was_ hanging on, and the longer he did so the more of the patterns he could perceive and the easier it got. Like the waves there was a rhythm even in chaos. He quickened his breath to match that runaway beat until it was almost a pant. After a few moments he felt his heartbeat hasten to that same pulse. Felt everything he _was_ align with it. Felt the Master Emerald's steadiness at his back though it was half a world away. The steady tide at the back of the pounding breakers.

One of the Sentinels swung for the loop he stood atop, and he stepped aside. Stepped onto thin air and swung for it in return. Swung with flickering speed and watched in mild surprise as the thing shattered into fragments.

Giddy delight at the ease of it washed through him and he bit it back. There was danger it it. Madness in it.

 _Control, Guardian._

 _Control._

He hung onto the word, flung himself forwards onto the air and dived for the next nearest Sentinel. Dived at it and through it and into the air again, leaving sparks and smoke twirled into vortices in his wake. He looked over his shoulder to see it fall, with a secondary explosion when it hit the ground. He spun in the air unable to contain a harsh, high cry of triumph, already seeking the last of them.

 _Control_ …

But it was a whisper at the back of his mind and the waves and the tide were louder. He snapped around in the air and targeted the last Sentinel. This one still had a functional laser and fired at him, but what did that matter? It was only energy and chaos energy was stronger. He tore the beam apart, snatched the Sentinel into the air and whirled it around and over the clifftop into the shallow water where it broke apart in a shower of sparks. With another whip-crack fast change of direction, he tore into the ranks of Egg Robos, smashing some and letting the wake turbulence of his passing fling the others aside.

He hesitated, senses reeling, heart hammering, looking wildly around for a new target and finding none.

"Knuckles!"

Someone called his name from the ground and for a moment he felt only anger at the interruption. At the distraction. Appalled at his own reaction he drove himself away from it, drove himself higher into the air. The pounding rhythm in his blood and bones and head was erratic now. Painful. Confusing.

 _Control…_

But the distraction had come at just the wrong moment and he couldn't think, couldn't focus.

He fell, off the crest of the wave, down into darkness, out of the air.

* * *

The darkness was interminable but voices wove through it. Insistent. Unending. Until he could ignore them no longer.

"Wake up, Knuckles."

 _Stay asleep, Guardian. Sleep. Rest here, rest easy, rest and heal._ A wordless demand, that he longed to obey but more corporeal voices were still calling.

He forced his eyes open and immediately regretted it. He'd fought in darkness, fallen and lain in darkness and the light was agony. He squeezed his eyes shut again, unable to stifle a moan.

"Hang on." The light dimmed. "Better?"

He nodded, and opened his eyes more cautiously. It was Amy's voice he'd heard but Tails' face which now leaned over his, eyes full of tears. Abruptly the fox leaned in closer, wrapped his arms tightly around him, dragging him half upright, then abruptly letting go and sprinting from the room which appeared to be a hastily equipped infirmary.

Amy came into view instead, her face troubled. "We couldn't convince him you weren't going to die," she said. A tired sort of anger came into her eyes. "We can't keep losing people, Knuckles – don't do that to us again."

"I..." he coughed and stopped, swallowed several times trying to work some moisture back into his mouth.

"I didn't intend to do it even once," he croaked. "I..." He swallowed again. "Miscalculated."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "That's what you're calling it? Wait there."

Knuckles wasn't sure he had a choice, every nerve and muscle and joint ached fiercely and just dragging himself to a sitting position left him shaking and his head spinning. Cautiously, he reached out along the lines of power, along the tangled and trembling braid of energy. The Master Emerald was safe, the Chaos Emeralds still held, though the backwash of energy was wildly unsettled.

Amy returned carrying a glass of water.

"Drink." She handed him the glass, holding onto it until it was clear he was actually going to be able to keep hold. "You fell from about about a hundred feet up you know. Just passed out, right in mid-air. Tails caught you. I didn't even know he was outside. He wasn't supposed to be."

Knuckles emptied the glass, sip by sip as Amy went on.

"Rouge and Charmy both took off to try as well but Tails was faster."

"So he should be, all that time running round after-" Knuckles stopped, appalled at how dazed he must be to bring up Sonic now.

Amy just shook her head.

"We can't _keep_ loosing people, Knuckles," she repeated. "What did you do? Why did it affect you like that?"

But Knuckles had lost all interest in that question and shot back a panicked one of his own.

"We _didn't_ lose anyone? Did we?"

Amy scowled at him.

"No," she said and Knuckles slid halfway back down the bed in limp relief. "Amazingly not. Bruises, burns, concussions, broken bones, no fatalities. Silver is still sleeping it off but everyone else is back up and getting ready to move. You've been out almost 12 hours. What did you _do?_ "

"Move?" Knuckles said, ignoring the question again.

"Well we can't stay here can we? The idea was it would be a _secret_ base."

Knuckles should have realised that for himself. He shook his head, trying to clear it. That was one experiment he _wouldn't_ be trying again in a hurry. It had almost made him forget what he _did_ want to do.

"Wake Silver," he told Amy. "Ask Tails to come back in here. And the Chaotix crew." He hesitated. "And Rouge I suppose. I want you to hear an idea."

* * *

Knuckles used the time that took to try and regain his equilibrium. It wasn't easy but he would have to manage it if his next suggestion was to have any hope of succeeding.

He also climbed shakily out of the bed and shuffled around to sit on the end of it instead. He might not be too steady on his feet yet, but he needed to be at least upright. No one would take his suggestion seriously if he still looked like a delirious invalid.

He greeted people as they arrived, hoping he sounded composed, waving off questions about what had happened with an in-a-minute promise. The Chaotix arrived together, with Charmy assuring him that smashing up the robots had been "mega cool" and Vector shaking his head at the bee. Rouge arrived alone. Knuckles nodded at her, thanked her and Charmy for trying to catch him. Silver arrived yawning and trying not to, with Amy and Tails behind him.

Knuckles looked at the seven of them, grouped around the end of the bed watching him. For a moment the number caught at his attention, and the surging pulse of the Chaos Emeralds leapt again to the forefront of his consciousness. He closed his eyes briefly and either his will or the Master Emerald's – the connection still to unsettled too be entirely sure of which – lulled them again.

He opened his eyes again, drew a deep breath, waved off the concerned expressions.

Where to start? It was more difficult than he'd expected. Every instinct cried out against telling them what he intended to tell them, against doing what he intended to do.

"Start with what happened out there," Amy said, watching him closely. "What did you do?"

"You used the Master Emerald, right?" Vector put in. "But you've done that before – so why the..." His hand swept through the air in a descending spiral from head height to below his waist, in wordless description of a tumbling fall.

"It wasn't just the Master Emerald. I…" Knuckles hesitated, knowing the next bit was almost certain to cause uproar. "The Chaos Emeralds are on Angel Island."

A startled babble broke out, cut off by Rouge. "All of them?"

Knuckles nodded.

Amy was staring at him with a fierce 'I knew it' look on her face. "And you kept this a secret _because_ …?"

Knuckles looked back at her helplessly. "I couldn't think what else to do – I'm Guardian. The Chaos Emeralds _are_ a secret."

Charmy gave him a sympathetic look. "They're kinda really not anymore y'know."

"Knuckles, we could have _used_ them-"

"How?" He cut Amy off. "Who? And if we'd tried and failed and lost them what then?"

He stopped. Waited for everyone to work through to the same conclusion as he'd already reached.

Amy sighed. "Okay. So you did _what_ out there? Tried to use the Chaos Emeralds instead? As well?"

"As well." Knuckles ran his hands down his face. "I.." How could he describe what he'd done? _Braided_ them into the lines of energy, plaited and twisted and wound them around the Master Emerald and himself so tightly into gem and stone and blood and bone that he wasn't sure he could ever unpick the links again. "I _connected_ them to the Master Emerald."

"And it didn't work?" Amy asked.

Knuckles gave an involuntary bark of laughter. "Oh it worked. But it turns out there's a very good reason why the Guardian is never usually a Chaos Emerald user." He shuddered and at the back of his mind the Master Emerald's murmur rose above the racing beat of the Chaos Emeralds. Soothing. Quieting "It's too much," Knuckles finished. "It's madness waiting to happen." he shook his head. "For a moment, at the end, I… I almost…" He wanted to look away, but he kept his head up, meeting no one's eyes but head up because they had to see his face, had to know he meant it.

"I wanted to keep fighting and if I hadn't found another target I think I would have turned on _you_. All of you."

"Hey," Rouge said after a second's silence. "You didn't do it, sugar. 'kay? You fought it. You beat those robots, which, let's face it, would have made mincemeat out of us and then you stopped."

"Only because I _passed out!_ " Knuckles almost shouted, desperate to make them understand the danger.

"And _why_ did you pass out instead of spreading us up the wall?" Rouge shot straight back.

Knuckles hesitated. Why _had_ he passed out? Because he'd lost his grip on the energy. Because he'd hesitated, resisted it. Fought it. The relief was immense. He nodded then sighed heavily.

"I couldn't do it again."

"Okay," Vector's voice was brisk and how could he possibly say 'okay'? Knuckles watched him as he continued.

"So, given that we probably don't want any blue-on-blue chaos zapping, _and_ probably don't have many uses for kamikaze chaos attacks that finish up with Knux faceplanting the deck, where does that leave us? And shouldn't we be getting out of here and looking for somewhere secure to have this conversation?"

"We need a secure base," Knuckles agreed, trying to gather his wits and come to the point. "I never intended to use the combined energy to fight. I never expected to have five Death Egg robots bearing down on us while we were still unpacking the damn sleeping bags. I did it on impulse because I didn't have any better ideas. It was stupid. It wasn't what I'd intended to use it for."

"So what was?" asked Espio who, along with Silver, had watched the rest of the interactions in observant silence.

"There's one thing it's safe for. One thing it was was once used regularly for-"

"Angel Island is no good for a base." Tails cut across the conversation so abruptly and with such flat hopelessness that everyone looked at him. Most in complete confusion.

"Tails?" Amy asked gently. "What do you mean?"

"That's what _Knuckles_ means isn't it?" Tails went on, still in an almost disinterested monotone. "The temple where he has the Master Emerald now... Hidden Palace where he had it when me and Sonic first went there – they've both got places for the Chaos Emeralds to interface as well. What do they do, Knuckles? Some sort of defence system? But it's no good. The Island is no good as base, there's nothing there, no infrastructure, nothing useful, nowhere to house hundreds of fighters, nothing worthwhile, nothing but ruins."

"Tails!" Amy looked from the fox to Knuckles in dismay but Knuckles was too relieved to find Tails' quick mind still at work on the problem to take offense at the slight upon his home.

"Escape," he said. "It's escape, Tails, not defence. Why was the Island unfound for all the long lives of my ancestors even though glimpses had been snatched of it, even though the Master Emerald only moves it through the sky slowly? Why did I not manage to go a single _month_ since the Emeralds were lost without fighting off some new intruder? Why have I been able to spend my time here with the Resistance, not there defending it since I recovered them?"

The spark of curiosity in Tails' eyes lifted Knuckles' heart further, made this pouring out of secrets easier.

"Because it's an _escape_ system." He swished his hand, palm out, through the air. "Gone! Chaos Control and the Island is on the other side of the world. Un-trackable. Un-followable, start again and come looking and even if you find it..."

"Whoosh!" said Charmy, grinning and flicking his fingers out in a starburst gesture. "Gone again."

Knuckles nodded. "We could be anywhere we needed to be. At once." He thought of the orbiting war satellites and added, "Almost anywhere. Anywhere on the surface."

Amy glanced at the wide eyed faces to either side of her and managed, "And when were you going to tell us this?"

Knuckles blinked. " _Now_. Once I knew I could do it reliably. If we hadn't been attacked I'd have told you once we were all safely unpacked here. I only worked out how to do it a few weeks ago. It was an accident the first time!"

Amy stared at him. "You've been Chaos Controlling Angel Island hither and thither over the planet for the past few weeks for _practice_?"

"Yes?" Knuckles frowned. Hadn't he made that clear?

"Oh. Right." Amy's voice shot up. "And if you'd just never come out of the other side of one of these experimental little hops?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Then you'd have been no worse off than if I'd been killed in an attack. Better off probably since the Master Emerald wouldn't have been left laying around unguarded, it'd have been taken out along with me."

And you're sure about this are you, Knuckles?" Rouge drawled. "'Cause you've had _quite_ a day. Sure you haven't just scrambled your wits more than usual?"

"I'm certain."

Silver frowned. "Wait. Go back a step. You said once we were _here_. Why here? Why unpack here if we're going to Angel Island?"

Knuckles took his eyes off Rouge's sceptical look and Amy's outraged one.

"Because we're not. Tails is right. Angel Island isn't suitable." He didn't wait for further questions before continuing. "Tails – you figured this much out, tell me if you think the rest of my logic holds."

Tails didn't answer, but he did at least nod.

"Angel Island – the _Floating_ Island, wasn't always an island. Or floating. This much all of the texts agree on. It falls back to the surface in the absence of the Master Emerald. I don't _need_ texts to tell me that. So it's nothing to do with the geology that allows it to be what it is and everything do with the Master Emerald and the devices that interface the Chaos Emeralds with it. Tell me if you think I'm wrong, Tails."

"I don't think you're wrong." Tails paused. "I'm not even sure that the Emerald pedestals are anything special. It may just be the positioning that matters."

"We don't have time to guess," Knuckles said. "We're taking them."

"Yes," Tails agreed, "But we need to measure their orientation and distances from the Master Emeralds _very_ carefully first."

"I've done that," Knuckles assured him, "And I found it written down as well, so you you might be right. But check my measurements, definitely."

Vector raised his hand in the dumbfounded silence which followed.

"Just making sure I get your drift here. You think you can turn this whole zone into another floating island so we can use it as some sort of giant getaway vehicle?" He turned to Charmy and Espio. "Has he lost it d'you think?"

Knuckles found himself actually laughing. Now that the secret keeping was done, the telling done, the relief was dizzying. Secrets were heavy and the absence of this one made him unexpectedly light-hearted – almost light- _headed_ , giddy.

"Come outside," he invited and didn't wait to see who followed.

Everyone had and he led them to the clifftop. Looking over the shallow inland sea he closed his eyes and stopped.

"Look up," he advised.

He felt out along the braid of energy, settling now, responding light and easy to his touch. He pulled slightly, pulled and _steered_ , as though the lines of energy had been the guiding strings of some vast kite. He knew he'd succeeded before he even opened his eyes, knew by the rush of familiar energy in the proximity of the Master Emerald.

And by the ongoing string of profanities issuing from Rouge's mouth which after a solid ten seconds made Vector clap his hands over Charmy's ears.

Knuckles walked to the very edge of the cliff and cast his gaze between the Island floating overhead and the water below.

"I'm going to land it down there – the water's too shallow further north." He felt a fierce grin spread across his face. "And I want my home _back_ in one piece when this war is over."

"It won't be a problem," Silver said, joining him at the cliff edge. "I can lift up anything you need lifting."

Knuckles nodded. "I'm counting on it. We won't have long. Probably only until Eggman decides how many Death Egg Sentinels to send if five wasn't enough..."

* * *

The next few hours were a flurry of activities. Tails worked on the setup with an almost alarming intensity now that it had caught his attention and Knuckles just wanted to be everywhere at once. Things had to be moved and he couldn't be at both ends at once and the amount of trust it required in everyone helping was a challenge to every instinct, in spite of his relief at no longer having to keep his plan a secret.

Finally all that was left to move was the Master Emerald itself. Knuckles crouched atop it, watching Silver.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Go."

Cyan light flickered around them and the Master Emerald shifted in its altar socket at the very tip of the temple pyramid, shuddering, reluctant. Knuckles laid a hand flat against the smooth top surface. Let some of the reassurance it always gave him flow back the other way. This wasn't a snatching, wasn't a tearing away, wasn't a _taking._ He was here, he was Guardian, it was all right, safe, calm.

"Slowly," he said aloud to Silver.

"I'm trying. It's difficult."

Knuckles looked up. "Is it too heavy?"

"No," Silver frowned. "It's not that. It's… Slippery."

"Slippery?" Knuckles repeated, confused.

"It feels weird. I can't quite…" Silver shook his head. "It's okay. I've got it."

"Are you _sure?_ " Knuckles demanded.

"Yes."

Knuckles looked down. They were rising steadily, angling towards the clifftop above. He looked up instead, trying to steer his thoughts away from what would happen if Silver _couldn't_ lift it all the way after all. Was the height of the fall enough to damage it? It was enough to kill _him_ if he didn't abandon it to glide – could he do that without being certain of its safety? He didn't think so and the vivid mental image of tugging helplessly at it as they plunged from the air grew stronger and stronger in his mind's eye.

He was already crouched on hands and knees but almost sprawled sideways in relief as they crossed above the springy turf at the top of the cliff.

They had set up the altar and pedestals from Hidden Palace outdoors in a cobbled clearing, a mile from the inshore lake and the buildings that would form the core of the base. Knuckles would have preferred an undercover location – somewhere that _felt_ more secure, regardless of how impossible any secrecy would be to achieve when the whole Resistance force would be operating from here – but there was nowhere big enough. One of the few less than optimal features of this zone for this task but it would have to do.

In the absence of that option, this place had called to his attention somehow. Though overgrown now it had been a central feature once. Coloured paving tiles spiralled around to a starburst pattern on the ground, and the whole arrangement had once had an ornamental water channel circling it, criss-crossed by a series of tiny bridges and now holding nothing but a few inches of rainwater.

Knuckles knew the decoration wasn't important for itself, had probably been nothing more than a spot for a silly photo opportunity in this zone's original purpose. But he wouldn't discount his own instincts either, and since he liked the place more than anywhere else amid the twisting, rusting artificial structures and since his concentration was what mattered, that fact alone was enough to make this the _right_ place.

Silver adjusted his position in the air and brought the Master Emerald to a halt above the alter, now installed at the centre of the starburst. Tails stood on the ground below waving him down. Outside the circle Rogue was unpacking radio equipment and Amy and Vector were shoring up a sort of summerhouse to act as a guard-station. They all stopped to watch. Somewhere further out in the trees Espio and Charmy were rigging a second set of proximity sensors.

"Okay?" Silver asked.

Knuckles glanced down. The alignment looked right and he waved.

"Yes. Down then. Slowly."

"I know."

As lightly as Knuckles could have hoped, Silver lowered the Master Emerald into its new resting place. Knuckles felt it settle into place, and more, into the circling energies of the Chaos Emeralds already in their places on the surrounding pedestals.

He jumped to the ground and put one hand back on the Master Emerald, letting his eyes fall shut, following the energy down and down further through stone and earth. He went to one knee, the hand still touching the Master Emerald trailing down it as he knelt, until he could press his other hand flat to the cracked and faded cobbles and feel the energy spreading and winding through this new place.

It was going to work.

He opened his eyes and stood.

"It will take some time for the energy to spread enough for what we want it to do," he said. "And I need some time to-" he stopped, unsure of the word he needed. "To learn this place. To recognise it."

By the puzzled looks he got in return from Tails and Silver he knew neither had been the right word.

"Angel Island I _know_. It's more than familiar, it's..." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I need some time here, that's all."

"How long?" Silver asked.

"I don't know." Knuckles reached for the drifting, spreading energy. "It might depend how much of it we want to take with us..."

He glanced at the horizon, up at the sun. "Sunset. Give me until then. We can't risk another night attack. I'll have to try then." He looked across at the others and beckoned.

Amy, Vector and Rouge crossed into the circle. Rouge's eyes lingered on the Chaos Emeralds as the sunlight caught them, then looked back at Knuckles, spotting him watching her.

"Looking's free," she said, meeting his eyes, unabashed at having been caught doing so. "'I'm on your side, commander."

No follow-up joke undercut the title and Knuckles nodded. "I know."

He turned to Amy.

"How much does everybody _else_ know about what we've been doing?"

Amy looked thoughtful. "I haven't briefed them if that's what you're asking. But they can't miss the fact there's a new island out there in the sea! And you know how rumour is. Some think it's a sort of disguised ship and we're going there. Some think we've got hold of whatever power source made appear or may it fly and want to use it to secure this place. Some have guessed, or are hoping it's the Chaos Emeralds. Especially those who saw your little magic trick last night. Some will have seen you and Silver moving the Master Emerald but I can't imagine anyone else would recognise it. I'm utterly certain no one would remotely guess what _exactly_ it is that you're going to do!" She paused. "I _did_ tell them that this area would be off limits from now on, but I wouldn't have put it past a few of them to have crept out here for a peek."

Knuckles spun to rake his eyes along the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing in alarm.

Amy patted his arm sympathetically. "They wouldn't have joined up with the Resistance if they were all _exactly_ the kind of people who had a bit of nerve, Knuckles."

Knuckles nodded reluctantly. It had been a relief to share the plan with his friends, but the thought of _everyone_ knowing the Master Emerald was here, just sitting here in the middle of the woods, made him feel painfully exposed.

He reached out for it, half for reconnaissance, half for reassurance, and felt the energy spreading into the ground, radiating out at a little more than walking pace. He felt along it, surveying it. It was already past the edge of the tree line and spreading smooth and even, spilling through the trees. If anyone had been there they weren't now.

"Alright," he said. "At sunset I want everyone outside, down on that plain at the southern edge of the sea. Well from building and structures. I don't want to damage anything but if I get it wrong I don't want anyone hurt."

He would have elaborated but in the next moment a cold wave of utter weariness made his knees wobble. He staggered and Amy, still standing beside him caught his arm, staggered as well but stayed upright.

"What was that?" She said at once. "What's wrong?"

Knuckles shook his head, eyes closed. "Wait."

He concentrated and the moment's loss of control passed. He opened his eyes again. He should have made a plan for this part before moving the Emeralds.

"Well," Amy said. "We waited. Explain. Are you okay? Is it a side effect?"

He shook his head again. "Not exactly. I need to concentrate." He wasn't sure it could explain it anyway. He wouldn't normally have tried.

"Knuckles?" Tails asked. Knuckles looked at the tremulous worry on the fox's face and sighed. And tried to explain.

"It's not a problem as long as I concentrate. The Master Emerald's energy is flowing into the area here right now – it's filling it up, spreading through it and into it. That's why I'll be able to move it. On Angel Island all that happened thousands of years ago and the energy transfers are small and slow. Here they're fast. The Master Emerald is transferring energy into the zone faster than it's renewing itself." He saw alarm growing on his friends' faces and waved it off. "That's okay because the Chaos Emeralds are feeding back into it too. The Master Emerald renews itself all the time and so do the Chaos Emeralds and there's _enough_ energy. I'd know if there wasn't."

"So what just happened?" Amy asked.

Knuckles made a face. "I got distracted. The Chaos Emeralds are linked to the Master Emerald but the links are not as strong as the links between the Master Emerald and the Guardian. If I don't deliberately make sure it's using the Chaos Emeralds to renew the energy levels-"

"It defaults to using the Guardian as a backup power source?" Tails said.

Knuckles frowned slightly at the mechanical terminology but nodded. It sounded close enough.

Amy stared from Tails back to Knuckles.

"If you forget to tell it use the Chaos Emeralds it resorts to trying to suck energy out of _you?_ Well that's just great!"

"It's temporary," Knuckles said, ignoring the outbreak of sarcasm. "And I can control it if you let me _concentrate_. It will stabilise – equalise _–_ once we're in the air, once the boundaries for how far and deep it can flow are set."

Amy stared at him as though trying to work out if this was actually the truth, but then nodded. "Okay. So what do you need? Apart from peace and quiet. You said get everyone together at sunset when you're going to try and lift this place up – heck, that sounds crazy just saying it!"

Knuckles flicked his attention back to the links found them steady and nodded.

"Yes. Amy, Tails, Vector, Rouge – At sunset I want you four there out there with everyone else, and Charmy as well. Do what you think best if anything goes wrong. Silver, I want you and Espio back here with me. I'm going to be fully occupied and if we _do_ have any, let's say _bad eggs_ among our recruits, I'm not going to be in a position to deal with them. That will be your job. To stop anyone interfering."

He looked from face to face for questions or problems. They looked worried, but no one looked mutinous.

He let them go back to their tasks. No one would leave for raids or attacks today and distantly he wondered if that would be noticed or raise suspicions. Too late if it was. He returned his attention to the Emeralds, following the energy, first only mentally then pacing after it, out into the trees, looking and feeling and learning the place. The overgrown paths which had once led visitors from attraction to attraction, the more subtle and natural paths that had been formed by the passage of feral animals since the visitors stopped coming, the shape of the plants, the colour of the bedrock where it peeped through the dirt and overgrowth, the patterns of light and shade from the still standing structures.

Seeing it, hearing it, smelling it, feeling it. Coming to know it.

Where the energy had already spread he could feel people moving across the ground, both friends and less familiar presences.

He wandered.

Sunset came and before he'd reached the circle of Emeralds with the Master at its centre he already knew that everyone had done as he'd asked. There was a huge gathering of people on the plain and Silver and Espio were standing just outside the ring when he returned.

He wasn't entirely sure he was ready, but he was readier than he had been and he'd hadn't changed his mind about not waiting any longer.

He crossed into the ring of Emeralds and put both hands on the Master Emerald without preamble. He heard Silver comms check the others and warn them it was starting and then he stopped listening to everything except the not-quite-sound of the Emeralds' chiming.

He felt out for the spreading energy and with an effort of will stopped it spreading further, let it build up against the boundaries he'd decided, let it gather, deepen, harden there. Let it sharpen. His breath quickened. He could see what he needed to do. He _cut. Pushed_.

There was a rumble like distant thunder and the ground shuddered, making the leaves rustle in the windless dusk.

That was the right pace. No damage, just pressure, crack by crack by crack, as the chaos energy knifed into the rock below them and the Master Emerald tugged for the sky. Between pull and push, in the web of competing forces Knuckles fought for control, fought to kept things together, fought to keep _himself_ together.

Like jaws meeting, the energies came to a point and with a final tremor the ground they stood on ripped free of the solid earth. The acceleration at the sudden release of pressure threw Knuckles off his feet, away from the Master Emerald and for a split second they were falling again. He flung himself back against it, hard enough to bruise and clung on.

 _Control._

 _Control._

They rose, slowing, but still rising. Smoothly.

Knuckles took a more stable hold of the settling energies and took up the lines of control that ran through it. He knew where he wanted to be and he'd only done half of it. If he got the next bit wrong he might still kill them all, wipe them off the face of the planet in an instant.

He didn't hesitate. It wouldn't help.

One hand curled against the Master Emerald in a wordless, almost unconscious command and in the next second sunlight was spilling against his closed eyelids.

He opened them and looked up at blue sky. They'd moved several hundred miles to the west by the position of the sun. They were still rising, though more slowly.

Cautiously he removed one hand and then the other from the Master Emerald, monitoring the energy flows.

Stable.

He felt too tired to feel any real relief, but it was simple tiredness, nothing more. He didn't dare sleep yet, wary of any unforeseen problems, but perhaps, by _this_ sunset he'd be able to.

And then, they would pick up the fight again. And this time they'd do more than escape. This time they'd have an advantage of their own. Power of their own.

Hope.


	5. Unknown

_Illusions and improbable futures. This seems as unlikely as any of them._

 _But it's true that the Resistance were more elusive than it was easy to explain._

 _Many say that the Guardian of the only-half-believed-in Floating Island fought with them. Fought and then was unseen again, was only rumoured to be leading them. Was seen again – they say – only at the end, at the battle of the falling sun._

 _Or maybe those stories of escape and secrets were, or are, only comforting illusion, lulling and luring and distracting._

 _How could one begin to tell?_


	6. Taken

"We've lost contact with Sonic," Amy frowned across the crowded flight-deck of the transport towards Knuckles.

"Sonic can handle Shadow," Knuckles said "Is everyone else in place?"

Amy nodded. "The Chaotix and Silver are meeting their teams at the edge of the city." She frowned. "It's a lot to ask, Knuckles, they've come straight from running interference for Sonic."

"I know. But I've got too many recruits and not enough leaders. I need some experienced heads down there. Sending that other Sonic already confused the life out of the team I sent him with."

"We need some experience up here too," Amy frowned. "You should stay. I could take a team and you could run comms."

Knuckles shook his head. "I've got to be on the ground. It was my idea and if it goes wrong I've got to be there."

"If it ' _goes wrong'_ down there then seeing their commander wiped out will most likely put the end to the whole show, Knuckles – you're right about us having too many inexperienced people – one good whack to morale like that and we'll probably lose them all!"

Knuckles surveyed the plans of the city over Amy's shoulder. "You underestimate them. And I've got no intention of getting wiped out."

Amy might have argued further except the comm beeped loudly.

"That's Sonic!" Amy's attention was instantly on the transmission. "Sonic, are you okay? What happened with Shadow?"

"Uh, that kinda wasn't Shadow." Sonic sounded amused even through the static. "This is though."

Shadow's voice replaced Sonic's. "Are you in the city yet?"

"No," Amy answered looking over her shoulder at Knuckles and spreading her hands in confusion.

"Fall back then, there's no way you can–" The transmission was interrupted for a second by a, "Wait, what?" as Sonic's voice returned.

"Sorry guys, that's not why we called. Shadow, just tell them about the projections."

Shadow took over the comm again and Knuckles listened in concern, trying to work out if this needed to change their plans at all. They'd already known they were up against superior numbers. Surely this only made it more likely that Eggman wouldn't expect them?

"We're carrying on," he said eventually.

"Works for me!" Sonic returned. "I'll catch up and join the fun."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure that's the word I'd use but feel free, I've just been telling Amy we need everyone we can get."

The remaining minutes to Metropolis passed in a tense flurry of last minutes checks and recaps.

Knuckles stood before the squad he was taking on a high level path-finding route. A flying squirrel, two birds and a bat watched him for the 'go', looking nervous but determined.

He smiled at them. The time for speeches was down but it was important to make it seem like they could do this.

"Remember your comms," he said. "Anything useful you see about the routes, the enemy positions, defences, anything, you call it back to Amy and she'll pass it on. The others are going to be a minutes behind us so everything we do makes their job easier. Any questions?"

None came and he waved them to the loading door. They weren't landing for this step.

"Okay," Knuckles took up position. "Open it up."

The door lowered into the howling slipstream and Knuckles lowered his head against it. He cast a glance to either side, checking his team were up alongside him them raised his hand. "Let's go!"

They ran two or three steps then leapt into the wind taking up their planned formation, Knuckles leading and setting the descent rate with the squirrel on his right and just below him and the two birds just above. The bat circled them watchfully.

"We're seen," the squirrel called, opening fire with her wispon in the same moment as one of the birds did the same, firing on the defence tower that had swung to open fire on them.

Knuckles tucked in his spines descending faster, with everyone following. He called out positions and enemies as he went, knowing they'd know have less time in the air than he'd hoped.

The touched down and were instantly engaged by a crowd of Egg Robos which filled the whole walkway. The bat pitched over the edge to avoid them and the birds took to the air firing so wildly Knuckles had to be careful where he attacked to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Rookies, as Amy had warned.

He called them to order. "Clearing fire, take out as many on the skyway ahead as you can then recharge while I take the rest. Keep calm!"

This time it worked. He dashed through the falling wreckage, taking out those robots which had been missed, while the squirrel took potshots from behind the cover of the broken defence tower. The bat swooped up from below the walkway and shoulder charged one he'd missed.

"Good," Knuckles called. "Keep moving. Remember to–"

His words were lost as the world turned red and purple and a shrieking sound akin to twisting metal made his ears ring. With a deep sense of disbelief he saw the squirrel fall past him into the sky. Fall _upwards_. It was so startling that he only realised he too was falling a second later. Instinctively, he flared his spines but only tumbled in the air. Which way was up? He saw the birds scattering, fluttering wildly to avoid the laser shots that also filled the air. The bat struck a bridge that shattered in the moments before he hit it, slicing into a wing. He screamed too high to hear and then he was falling too.

Knuckles hit the same bridge a moment later, avoiding injury by a spines-length and digging his claws into the wildly sloping paved surface beside a lethally sharp broken girder. He looked wildly around trying to locate the others, hoping for any sign they were only injured and not dead in the madness the world had suddenly turned into.

Instead something huge loomed over him, filling his vision. Infinite's mask grown to enormous proportions, and bending to stare at him on the end of a grotesquely distorted neck rising from a body a storey or more high.

For a moment he was transfixed by shock, and by the complete panic emanating from the comm knew he couldn't be the only one seeing this. These must be more of the projections Shadow had warned them about.

"Keep calm," Knuckles managed to transmit. "What you're seeing isn't real!"

But it was real enough to do physical damage according to Shadow and this one was aiming a clawed hand towards him, eerily slow but relentless and the speed barely mattered because it was big enough to take out the whole structure he was clinging to. Knuckles leapt aside, glided under the incoming arm. He swerved around behind the thing. Aimed for an intact rooftop just below.

Before he reached it, the world turned upside down again and he was flailing to regain his balance in the air. One of those arms, whiplash fast all of a sudden flicked him from the sky effortlessly. He struck the side, or the roof, of a building – which it was was now impossible to guess – and slid down it. Again the world twisted and he was falling forward, the vertical wall now above his head and before he could react it shifted again and he hit the underside of a walkway had enough to knock the breath out of him.

He picked himself up slowly, trying not to look at the dizzying view. Trying to be ready for wherever the next gravitational flip-flop might throw him. At least he appeared unnoticed by the stalking Infinite-like creatures for the moment.

He paused long enough to try and make sense of the bedlam coming over the comm and then to order the retreat. This was impossible. They had never imagined anything remotely like this. It was a total rout.

He wove his way as best he could, hoping to pick up any stragglers on the way but seeing no one. It was hard to know what to make of the comms traffic. How much was real? Distantly he heard Amy claim 80% of their troops were down. An indeterminate time later he heard someone claim that their very newest recruit was fighting Infinite.

Time had become as confusing as the space around him had. It was like trying to navigate a maze that kept shifting. As Knuckles leapt over another huge gap in the flyover he was currently traversing there was another of the sickening, ear ringing distortions. It blurred his vision and he blinked frantically, trying to regroup, to see what had been changed, turned about, set on end.

There was nothing obvious but at the sinister laugh behind him he realised it was worse.

"All alone, and his pathetic little band of would-be fighters dead or fleeing..."

Knuckles turned. Infinite hovered his own length about the cracked skyway. His face was as invisible as ever behind the mask but it was impossible not to imagine a self-satisfied smirk going with that voice.

Knuckles considered his chances of either escape or in attack and knew the best he could do was delay Infinite here. Buy as much time as he could for the frantic retreat still underway.

"You can't really have expected to win?" Infinite drifted closer.

Knuckles faced him squarely. "We _will_ win." It didn't matter how incredulous Infinite was at this claim, every moment was another moment to get more people clear of the city.

"If you're waiting for that little blue friend of yours to launch a last minute rescue you're deluding yourself," Infinite sneered. "He's dead already. Shadow has been mine for months and he killed him before you ever set foot in the city."

Knuckles shook his head. "You're a liar. That Shadow was a fraud, and Sonic is alive."

Infinite chuckled and Knuckles realised he'd already known Sonic had survived.

"You're well informed. Yes, we probably should have killed him sooner. His mewling was a little too entertaining."

Knuckles' hands curled into fists and he fought to keep himself from leaping to the attack.

 _Buy time. Buy time_.

Infinite went on. "We won't make the same mistake with you. You'll live just long enough to answer me one thing."

Knuckles shook his head but Infinite's confidence was unnerving, and he didn't even really know if this was just another replica.

 _Run_. _Buy time. Run. Buy time._

Knuckles' thoughts chased themselves, scattershot through his mind. He stood his ground.

 _Buy time_.

The comm activated and Amy's voice broke in.

"We're almost out, Knuckles. Where are you?"

Knuckles stared at Infinite, if it _was_ Infinite, who stared back, making no attempt to interfere.

"Following," Knuckles said, his throat suddenly dry. "Keep going. I'll catch up."

"Such misplaced nobility," Infinite's voice drowned out Amy's response. "What a pity to waste it. Come with me."

Knuckles didn't even have time to flinch before he was seized by two more of the replicas conjured out of thin air. They were person sized but were still the horribly twisted versions of Infinite which had stalked the city and they were unreasonably, impossibly strong. Long, taloned arms snarled themselves around his own limbs, tightly enough to make instant pins and needles break out in his hands and feet. He thrashed in their grip, not expecting it to work, but he had Infinite's attention, and he was buying time.

Another of the distortion fields passed over them and Knuckles reeled, falling limp for a moment, his head dropping onto his chest, woozy and sick.

"So that one question," Infinite's words roused him as one of the replicas grabbed his spines from behind and forced him to raise his head again. "Is _this_ why it's suddenly so hard to kill even that helpless little recruit of yours? Have you done something I should know about?"

"No..." It wasn't an answer but only horrified denial because, in this harshly lit, metal-lined room they now occupied, Knuckles found himself staring at the Master Emerald. Infinite stood between it and him, far too close, tapping his fingers against it in a way which made Knuckles' blood run cold.

"You thought you'd take the city while we were otherwise occupied but while _you_ were otherwise occupied, I took something as well. Isn't the symmetry delicious?"

Knuckles fought for words, fought for some dismissive answer that would assure Infinite he wasn't afraid, wasn't beaten yet, but before he could manage to make another sound, Infinite had stilled his tapping and instead slashed his clawed fingertips down the glassy surface. Knuckles yelled, in startled, disbelieving pain, as the swipe left gouges down the side of the Emerald and a burning, bloodless echo down his own side.

"Does that hurt?" Infinite asked, in the same cold, amused tone. "It looks like it hurts. How much? Will you beg and plead like the hedgehog did, before you tell me what I want to know? How did you keep that ignorant, barely trained child safe from me? How did a nobody like that get so much power? Was it this? What did you do?"

Knuckles shook his head, almost relieved in spite of his horror because this was something he couldn't be made to tell. "I've got no idea what you're talking about."

"I don't believe you." Infinite drew out the single sentence as he raked a second set of gouges slowly down the Emerald, beside the first. Knuckles struggled involuntarily, trying to writhe away from an injury that wasn't exactly physical, but didn't cry out this time because something else had seized his attention. Something important. That sense of horrified disbelief was important. Something Sonic and Shadow had told him was important. Something he himself had told the others. Had called out desperately on the comm.

"This isn't real!" he gasped. Couldn't be real. He couldn't believe anything could simply tear at the structure of of the Master Emerald like that, couldn't believe any distraction could have been enough for him to not know it had been captured. The sight was illusion, the pain was illusion, none of it was real.

Surely?

"Isn't it?" Infinite asked smoothly. "Does it _feel_ real?"

He dug his fingertips in again, and as though he was one of the replicas himself, they lengthened monstrously, piercing deep into the heart of the Emerald.

It was a sickening, splintering sensation and real or not it was unbearable. Knuckles thrashed in the grip of the replicas, wordless, almost mindless. He hauled one of them off its feet but before he could swing for the other, there were more of them. Grabbing, dragging at arms, and legs, and neck and spines, forcing him to his knees.

Infinite twisted these horrifying claws in deeper.

"I offered both the blue rat and your pathetic little recruit a chance to beg for their lives," he said. "Neither of them had the sense to accept. What about you?"

Knuckles closed his eyes. Would have shaken his head if he hadn't been held too tightly to move even that much. Infinite was still talking.

"I haven't decided yet whether I'll destroy this pretty thing, or feed it to my Ruby. What do you think? Any preference? Or perhaps what you should be begging me for is a quick death, since I can't imagine you'll enjoy either option."

Knuckles kept his eyes shut, tried not to hear, tried not to even think about Infinite.

This wasn't real.

He didn't think it was real.

He needed to know if it was real.

He needed to know what was real and his eyes wouldn't tell him and his physical senses wouldn't tell him. He needed to see and feel _otherwise_. He needed to concentrate. He need to touch the chaos all around them and work out if the Master Emerald was really here, was really harmed. Surely that couldn't be faked?

He could hear Infinite's voice rising in anger at being ignored, knew he was inviting further injury by ignoring him, did it anyway.

Watched the patterns, felt them. Chaos, shifting and stirring around them. He was afraid to look, afraid to see it but Infinite wouldn't allow him this moment of concentration for long and he had to know.

He looked up. Looked through the illusion, looked at the truth of the energy filling the room.

It was real.

The Master Emerald was here in this room.

"No..."

He barely heard his own word. Even more distantly he heard Infinite chuckle.

"No." Knuckles shook his head again. Concentrated. Made himself look again. Not with panic but with deliberate thought. The Master Emerald was here. Outlined, when he looked at it this way, in shining light. Unharmed. The nightmarish damage nowhere in evidence.

Infinite, stood beside it, a blot against the light, almost not there in this chaos-framed view of the world. An ugly reddish purple light leapt from the gem at his chest, arcing into the air like a scorpion's sting and slashing down at Knuckles.

It struck him in the back, somewhere below his neck and new pain startled him out of concentration, his eyes flying open to stare at the half illusory, half real Master Emerald before him. A savage crack nearly halved it and even only half believing it Knuckles couldn't stifle a horrified moan, because he couldn't reach it. Couldn't free himself either of the physical restraint or the corrupting, attacking energy lancing into him. Couldn't see past it.

"Ask me to stop," Infinite suggested. "Ask me nicely. Respectfully. Then maybe I'll let your straggling survivors have their commander back only broken instead of dead. For what it's worth before the end."

Knuckles jerked his head free of the restraining not-quite-hands and glared up at him.

"No." And this time the word was defiance not despair. He had no plan whatsoever, barely knew what was happening, but 'no' was the only possible answer.

Infinite's face was still hidden by the mask but his fists clenched at his side.

"You fool," he hissed, furiously but before he could add anything else or act on his threat, the moment was broken by the most incongruous sound imaginable.

Laughter.

"You'll have to do better than that for insults – I've been calling Knux that for years and I don't think he could care less."

"Sonic?" Knuckles dragged his head round towards the voice, but was too late to even see the blue hedgehog move before the replicas holding him were smashed to pieces as though they had been robots after all. He pitched forward, numbed arms and hands too sluggish to break his fall and for a moment he lay face down on the unforgiving steel floor.

When he opened his eyes the room was different.

The Master Emerald was gone, from sight at any rate, Infinite was gone and Shadow was standing where he had been, frowning.

"Knuckles?" Sonic was at his side, pulling him back upright. In contrast to the mocking tone of a moment before his face wore a rare look of honest worry. "You okay? Amy said you were following the others out, but you never turned up."

Knuckles fought to keep his legs under him as Sonic let go. The pain was receding, was distant now, more like a memory than something real, but the Master Emerald was still nearby, was unmistakeable.

"What happened?" Sonic asked taking his arm again as he wavered. "Are you hurt? Can you run?"

The questions came in a blur and Knuckles struggled to separate them out.

"Infinite," he said. Explanation enough perhaps but he needed to be clearer. "And I can't run."

"S'okay," Sonic waved at Shadow, "We can give you a tow. We'll be out of here in a second."

Knuckles shook his head. "That's not what I mean. I can't leave."

Sonic frowned then rolled his eyes. "You weren't following the others at all, were you? You were right here doing 'idiot-on-the-bridge'."

"I don't-"

Sonic huffed impatiently. "You need more movies in your life, Knux. I mean you were trying to hold up the pursuit. Last stand in the pass, all that stuff. But it's fine, everyone's out. We need to get out too."

"I can't." Knuckles ignored this babble. "The Master Emerald is here. Infinite's taken it."

The humour fell from Sonic's face but it was sympathy that replaced it, not the alarm that should have been there.

"Knuckles… No. I saw it too, just for a second, but it was just another illusion. Infinite was messing with you. He does that. Whatever you saw it wasn't real. It probably wasn't even really Infinite you were talking to."

Knuckles stared at Sonic, stared around the room.

"No. I saw it. I _felt_ it. It was real. It _is_ real. It's really here."

"The illusions are real enough to feel." Shadow spoke up from across the room. "What you saw and felt doesn't mean it was true. They're real enough to injure. Real enough to hurt."

"Not like this!" Knuckles shook his head. "He had it, right here and he was..." A visceral shudder ran through him from head to tail. "He… That _wasn't_ real. But it was real that it was really here."

And now Sonic definitely wouldn't believe him because that had sounded incoherent even to his own ears.

"Sonic, _please..._ "

Sonic stared back at him, hesitant, confused. "Knuckles… Normally I'd believe you, you know I would, but Shadow's right. The fact it felt real doesn't mean much."

Knuckles shook his head, opened his mouth to explain that there was a difference between what it felt like and what it _felt_ like but didn't get the chance.

"We don't have time to debate it," Shadow cut across them.

"Yeah," Sonic's hand was still on Knuckles' arm and he shifted it to grip his wrist. "Sorry Knux, we have to get out of here. We can work it out. We'll come back if we need to. Promise."

Abruptly, Shadow was also at his side, taking hold of his other wrist and Knuckles realised with panic that they intended to tow him out regardless of his cooperation.

"No!" He yanked his hand free of Sonic's grip and momentum meant it was Shadow he swung for first. Swung for and missed as the black hedgehog vanished. Knuckles spun round, guessing instantly what was coming but only in time to _see_ him reappear, not quite in time to fully block the incoming blow. He reeled back, dimly felt Sonic grab him, dimly heard him yell. "Shadow! No!" Dimly saw something – the other Sonic – hurtle past him.

Shadow staggered back as well as the smaller hedgehog collided with him and stood glaring up at him, standing between him and the others.

In spite of his protest to Shadow, Sonic was still struggling to restrain Knuckles from renewing the fight and he called over his shoulder to his younger self.

"Hey, it's okay. Shadow sucks at it but he _is_ trying to help. Knuckles is just kinda… confused… We need to get him out of here."

The smaller hedgehog frowned, looking from one to the other.

Knuckles shook his head, desperate to persuade _somebody_. "The Master Emerald is here and they don't believe me. I can't go!"

The little hedgehog stared at him in dismay, then at his older self, and finally back at Knuckles. A look of anguished apology crossed his face and he stepped aside.

"No!"

Knuckles threw Sonic off him with a frantic heave, but Shadow was there and Sonic was there again in a split second and so was the other Sonic and he had no chance whatsoever against all three hedgehogs and so he begged them as he'd refused to beg Infinite.

"Please!" But their surroundings were already a blur as they accelerated. He struggled to twist his wrists free but with his feet only intermittently touching the floor there was nothing to pull against. "No! Stop. Please. Please stop! Let me go."

They didn't stop and they didn't let go and every step was taking them further from that sense of the Master Emerald's presence.

The smaller Sonic, unencumbered by towing Knuckles and already having navigated in, out and back into the city that day, bounded into the lead, picking out damaged bridges, twisted walkways and crumbling rooftops, in a wild roller-coaster route over what was left standing.

On the fringes of the city they skidded to a stop in the shadow of one of the smaller Resistance transports.

Shadow let go at once and Knuckles landed on his knees, dragging Sonic down with him. The smaller Sonic was instantly at their side, tugging at their elbows to try and get them back up and it was obviously why because the engines of the transport were already streaming smoke and Amy was rushing down the ramp towards them.

"No..." Knuckles pushed both sets of hands away. He was disoriented already and would just as soon stay down as get up and promptly fall _back_ down. And on top of that was the terrible, mind-numbing horror of having left. Having left the Master Emerald behind. Left it behind in a place that couldn't be any more alien to him if it had specifically been designed so.

"What happened?"

Knuckles only realised Amy's question was aimed at him after Sonic had already answered.

"He ran a run-in with Infinite. He'll be okay. Help me get him on board."

Knuckles dragged his scattered attention round to Amy, then up at the transport. Every instinct still shrieked at him to run back to the city, but he couldn't. He wanted to. Wanted to so much it hurt. But his friends would try to stop him, or they'd follow, he'd delay the transport's escape, he'd put them all in danger. He couldn't go.

He let Sonic and Amy pull him back to his feet. Watched Shadow and the other Sonic board the transport then made his own reluctant feet move, let Amy and Sonic walk him between them up the ramp.

Voices greeted their boarding, a babble of mixed relief and worry.

"They're okay. Give them space," Amy ordered and some level of order returned. Knuckles let himself be led and sat down at the edge of what had been a cargo hold and was now an area where the injured were being treated. It seemed appropriate. It _felt_ like an injury, this helpless abandoning of his charge.

Amy bit her lip a moment.

"I need to go and talk to Shadow about what else he knows about those replicas," she said. "There were things in that city that weren't copies, they were –"

"Monsters," Knuckles said, bleakly.

"Yeah." Amy wrapped both arms around herself briefly. "Are you going to be okay here?" Her face grew businesslike again. "Nothing you're not telling us about that means you should be bumped further up the first aid queue?"

Knuckles shook his head. He couldn't yet bring himself to explain the real problem and Sonic was either unwilling or still didn't believe it.

"I'll stick around here," Sonic said. "Or other-me will." He looked around. "Where'd he go?"

Amy glanced over her shoulder. "To tell Tails you all made it."

She gave Knuckles one more worried look which he tried to ignore and then headed off in the direction Shadow had taken. The moment she was out of earshot, Sonic ducked in front of Knuckles, right up in his face, his voice urgent and low.

"Listen up, Knuckles. You can't lose it." He jerked a thumb back over his shoulder. "Look at all these people. They don't need to see that. You've got to keep it together."

Anger flickered and Knuckles welcomed it. It was hot. Warming. Alive. He glared at the hedgehog leaning over him.

"I know that, Sonic. What d'you think I've been doing? What do you think we've all been doing this past six months when we thought you were dead, if not _'keeping it together'?_ "

His voice was a snarl but no louder than Sonic's because the hedgehog was right, the survivors would be watching them and another thing they didn't need to see was the most well known members of the Resistance having an almighty set-to in the middle of their escape.

Sonic rocked back on his heels at the words, in spite of their lack of volume, and sat down hard on his tail.

"You thought I was dead?"

Knuckles frowned, and nodded, unable to account for the suddenly stricken look on Sonic's face.

"Huh. I guess that explains why you didn't come and get me sooner." Sonic briefly pressed his hands over his eyes then lowered them again. "D'you know how hard I've been trying not to be mad with you about that?"

Knuckles shook his head. "You thought I'd deliberately leave–"

"I thought you'd _prioritised_. The Resistance, Angel Island, the Master Emerald, all this..." Sonic waved a hand encompassing the assortment of people around them. "Not necessarily in that order. So what about one hedgehog, bound to be guarded massively, probably a trap anyway… Couldn't even tell myself you were wrong to stay away." He gave a bitter snort that sounded terribly unlike him. "Not that it helped knowing that."

Knuckles stared at him, unable to fault the hedgehog's reasoning. Hadn't he been struggling only minutes ago with whether to drag his friends into a fight for the Master Emerald or whether to flee with the Resistance?

"We came as soon as we knew, Sonic," he said eventually.

"Yeah. I believe you." Sonic sighed. "Listen though, about that six months, about your Emerald – I don't think you _get_ how real those illusions can be. Until Shadow told me about them, loads of stuff that happened on the Death Egg didn't make sense. I saw things… They did things… I…"

Meeting Sonic's eyes, Knuckles recognised the look in them far too easily for comfort. Remembered pain. Remembered fear.

"Sonic..." He leaned forward, pushing away from the bulkhead he'd been slumped against and took the hedgehog's arm. He couldn't find anything reassuring to say, but Sonic glanced down at his hand and smiled faintly anyway. Without getting up from the floor he slid around to sit beside Knuckles, leaning back on the same bulkhead and looking up into the dark of the hold.

"This isn't exactly the easiest thing we've ever done, is it?" he said quietly.

"No." Knuckles leaned back as well. Seeking distraction, he looked around the crowded hold. They'd survived, he reminded himself. All of these people had survived and suddenly it struck him just _how_ crowded it was. Going all out they'd deliberately slightly overloaded the transports on the drop and, it was still too full for the casualty counts he'd heard on the comm to be right.

He keyed the comm, making Sonic look at him curiously.

"Amy? Have we got numbers on who got out yet?"

"On it now," Amy came back promptly. "But initial reports are that we made it in pretty good order under the circumstances. Eagle, Fox, and Snake have checked in, they were scattered and all the squads are all mixed together on the transports but they've accounted for almost everyone. I'm still waiting on headcounts from the others but they're coming in slowly."

"Let me know when you've got final numbers," Knuckles said and let his hand fall back into his lap. He'd heard most of those squads wiped out, or thought he had. Had heard Amy declare catastrophic losses as they'd fought for a route out. Had all of that been illusion?

"Sounds like good news," Sonic said.

Knuckles nodded. A failure, but at least, perhaps, not too many people had died for it. There was a moment's silence then Sonic spoke again.

"What I was trying to say before was that there really is a good chance Infinite doesn't actually have the Master Emerald, that what you saw and felt wasn't real. He _likes_ to hurt people, he likes to frighten them, and he's good at knowing what will."

Knuckles didn't answer at first, reluctant to break the fragile calm. The comms traffic may have been fake, but Sonic was still wrong. Knuckles _knew_ it. Knew the Master Emerald had been taken from him. Knew it was his fault. Knew the plan to attack the city had been his. Knew therefore that the failure had been his.

He glanced at Sonic who was wearing a smile that, for once, didn't reach his eyes and couldn't bring himself to wipe it out.

"Maybe," he allowed. "But if he does I'll get it back." He forced a weak smile of his own, tried to make himself believe it was possible. "After all, it can't be any harder than running round the Death Egg looking for you after you've already set off every alarm in the place yourself."

Sonic's frozen smile warmed and spread all over his face.

"Easier!" he said brightly. "'Cause this time I'll be there with you." He gave Knuckles' a sideways glance. "And if it's a wild goosechase, well, I'm good at those too."

Knuckles leaned his head back again. Let the fake smile he'd put on fall away to be replaced by a type of exhausted relief.

Sonic would go with him, regardless of the fact he didn't believe him.

For everything taken, not all was yet lost.


	7. Known

_It is known that the Resistance recovered the hedgehog, Sonic, after all thought him dead._

 _It is known that they came in force at the end and stood and fought._

 _It is not known what was lost or reclaimed along the way._

 _It is known that to the finish they still had hope._


End file.
